Project EEE meeting, at Universitat Pompeu Fabra Barcelona. SOS info at http://daviniahl.wordpress.com/sos/ The Signal Orchestration System (SOS) augments the physical environment with digital signals indicating orchestration aspects. It includes a manager, where orchestration visual and auditory signals are configured, changed on the fly and transmitted. These signals are rendered in physical devices that students can easily wear in a way that the signals can be collectively perceived (by the rest of the students in a group). This facilitates awareness of the social dynamic and the activity flow. For instance, to indicate group formation, students’ devices can show color signals. The students with the same color form a group. Blinking lights can indicate role or resource distribution, sound signals change of activity, etc. However, the actual meaning of each signal depends on the needs and creativity of the teacher who design the collaborative dynamic and its orchestration.

1. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
DaviniaHernández-Leo, Mara Balestrini, Raul Nieves, et al. !
Interactive Technologies Group
http://gti.upf.edu
UniversitatPompeuFabra, Barcelona
EEE Project Meeting
12-13 September 2012, Barcelona

2. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
Content
• Brief revision of:
• Motivation
• Description (first prototypes)
• Results from first experiments
• New prototype
• Evaluation of the new prototype,
experimental vs. control group
• Ongoing and short-term future work

3. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
Motivation
• Orchestration of activities in physical spaces
• Dynamic collaborative flows ->
knowledge-intensive social interactions -> learning
• The orchestration “overhead” hinders its adoption:
• Indicate group formation and role assignment for every activity,
distribution of resources/tools, collaboration areas, and the evolution
of the learning situation/constraints
• Teachers and students devote attention to orchestration aspects
• Time-consuming, noise / mess effect (disorganization/distraction)
• +demanding when +students
• Integration with virtual spaces

4. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
Our solution
• Wearable devices and technology-augmented
physical spaces that “communicate”
orchestration aspects (signals)
• Vs. smart phones
• Sometimes not available / not allowed / cost
• Attention distraction / cognitive load / - agile dynamic
• Ambient awareness effect difficult to achieve
• Related work
(e.g., ambient displays to support classroom activity
supervision using interactive lamps)

5. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
Signal Orchestration System
First prototypes
• Adding digital information to physical spaces:
“signals” indicating group formation, distribution of
resources, assignment of work areas, change of activity…
• Visual and auditory signals (color, blinking, sound,…)
• Enables the link to virtual spaces, low-cost, awareness, scalability…
Manager (signals are configured and transmitted) + Fixed and Wearable devices
(Hernández-Leo et al., EC-TEL 2011; Hernández-Leo et al., JUCS to be
published)
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6. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
Results from first experiments
Signal Orchestration System
First two experiments
- Enables a flexible orchestration
(changes on the fly, reconfiguration of signals, scalability)
- High dynamism experienced by students
- Signals perceived fairly well by students
(in their own and their classmates’ devices – providing awareness)
- Hypothesis that the system facilitates students and teachers
focus more their attention to the task (and less to the orchestration aspects)
- Textile device more popularly preferred, but each design presented potentials
and limitations and some students still preferred the “necklace”
- Necklace: + visible,  considerable size / weight, uncomfortable
- Fabric:  Lighter and thinner, aesthetically nicer;
 - visible: since + comfortable  risk of forgetting to check, too similar to clothes
of classmates
- …
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7. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
New prototype
• Intermediate approach:
arm bracelet
• Compact, more robust…
• Awareness: also when sitting down

8. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
Content
• Brief revision of:
• Motivation
• Description (first prototypes)
• Results from first experiments
• New prototype
• Evaluation of the new prototype,
experimental vs. control group
• Ongoing and short-term future work

9. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
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Mara Balestrini - CSIM - UPF 2012

10. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
Independent Dependent Data Gatherting
variables variables technique
Time • Video coding
Experimental • Pre-test
S.O.S Scores
group • Post-test
• Video coding
Paperbased
Complaints • Questionnaires
Control
Jigsaw • Observations
group
Groupawareness
• Questionnaires
• Observations
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Mara Balestrini - CSIM - UPF 2012

11. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
PARTICIPANTS
• 2ndand 3rd ESO students
• Divided into 2 groups by
random
• Exp(N=25) / Control
(N=25)
Professors advice
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Mara Balestrini - CSIM - UPF 2012

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17. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
Content
• Brief revision of:
• Motivation
• Description (first prototypes)
• Results from first experiments
• New prototype
• Evaluation of the new prototype,
experimental vs. control group
• Ongoing and short-term future work

18. GTI http://gti.upf.edu
Ongoing and short-term future work
• Enabling co-orchestration: signals from devices to
manager
• Interface of the manager: configure devices or
signals?
• Devices for objects and spaces
• Linking SOS with other spaces
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Publications
• Hernández-Leo, D.; Balestrini, M.; Nieves, R.; Blat, J.; Exploiting awareness to
facilitate the orchestration of collaborative activities in physical spaces, CEUR
Proceedings of the 2nd Workshop on Awareness and Reflection in Technology-
Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL2012, Saarbrücken, Germany, September 2012 (to
be published)
• Hernández-Leo, D.; Nieves, R.; Arroyo, E.; Rosales, A.; Melero, J.; Blat, J.:
SOS: Orchestrating Collaborative Activities Across Digital and Physical Spaces
Using Wearable Signaling Devices. Journal of Universal Computer Science (to
be published)
(authors’ manuscript: http://www.dtic.upf.edu/%7Edaviniah/Hernandez-Leo_et_al_SOS-
Orchestrating_Collaborative_Activities_Across_Digital_and_Physical_Spaces_Using_Wearable_Signaling_Devices.pdf)
• Hernández-Leo, D. et al., Orchestration Signals in the Classroom: Managing
the Jigsaw Collaborative Learning Flow. In: Proceedings of 6th European
Conference on Technology Enhanced Learning, EC-TEL 2011, Palermo, Italy,
September 2011, pp. 153-165
Contact : davinia.hernandez@upf.edu
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